Egypt election result stirs joy among Islamists, doubts in the Gulf and Israel

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(Supporters of Muslim Brotherhood's President-elect Mohamed Mursi hold a poster with his image as they celebrate his victory in the presidential election and shout anti-military council slogans, at Tahrir square in Cairo June 25, 2012. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh)

Egypt’s new president may lack real foreign policy clout for now, but the mere fact that a Muslim Brotherhood man is at the helm of the biggest Arab nation will embolden fellow Islamists seeking revolutionary change around the Middle East.

Mohamed Mursi’s tenure as head of state is likely to unsettle Israel, please the Jewish state’s arch-foe Iran, and dismay secularist critics of the Brotherhood at home and abroad who argue that political Islam is no antidote to unemployment, a flatlining economy and social misery, analysts say.

It will also stir misgivings among some Gulf Arab states still struggling to respond effectively to the ousting of their long-term ally, deposed president Hosni Mubarak.

Analysts say any variations in aid flows from the Gulf may be an indicator of the health of their relationship with Cairo.

“Mursi’s victory will not benefit us directly. But it is a symbol of a victorious revolution,” Abu Yazen, an activist from the Syrian city of Hama, the repeated scene of bloodshed during Syria’s 15-month-old uprising, told Reuters.

“Mursi and his victory illustrates that revolutionaries will not rest until they reap the rewards of their work,” he added.